<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> Hi Phil. I used to run into this all the time One thing I found that consistantly seems to address this "it works on the bench but not in the piano" is dead on squaring of hammers to strings, and solid centers to keep the hammer on line. Just a thought. Otherwise I am not a fan of checkering tails, actually like them smooth as a babies behind, and thin as well. Good back check height also seems to be a key player here. RicB <blockquote TYPE=CITE> <blockquote style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <div style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black">From: <a href="mailto:fordpiano@lycos.com" title="fordpiano@lycos.com">Phillip L Ford</a></div> <div style="FONT: 10pt arial">To: <a href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org" title="pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</a></div> <div style="FONT: 10pt arial">Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2002 6:45 PM</div> <div style="FONT: 10pt arial">Subject: Bass hammer checking</div>  Yesterday I worked on an older Baldwin with a Schwander action that had a characteristic that I've encountered on other grand pianos, some having it more than others.  The hammers check perfectly on the bench or when the action is pulled out in your lap, but won't check when the action is in the piano.  This behavior is usually only noticeable in the low end of the scale and becomes most pronounced at the bottom.  On some pianos it seems that you can't get the hammers at the bottom end to truly check no matter what you do; make the checking shallower, make it deeper, groove the tail, rough up the check leather, change the back check angle, reduce rep spring strength to almost nothing, etc.  When I say 'truly check' I mean behave as in the rest of the piano.  The hammer is held some distance below the string when the key is down and rises when the key is released.  Apparently some sort of 'checking' is going on because even on a hard blow the hammers don't bounce back to the strings.  But the tail isn't really being held by the backcheck when the key is down.  What's the reason for this? Phil F --- Phillip Ford Piano Service & Restoration 1777 Yosemite Ave - 215 San Francisco, CA  94124     2,000,000,000 Web Pages--you only need 1. Save time with My Lycos. <a href="http://my.lycos.com">http://my.lycos.com</a></blockquote> </blockquote>     -- Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. Bergen, Norway <A HREF="mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no">mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no</A> <A HREF="http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html">http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html</A>   </body> </html>